Polpette di melanzane

These polpette di melanzane are vegan eggplant “meat” balls hailing from the sunkissed regions of southern Italy. Crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside, these eggplant polpette are full of flavour, healthy, and so easy to make! While traditional Italian polpette di melanzane are almost always meatless, most recipes include some kind of cheese. These polpette di melanzane are 100% vegan and every bit as delicious as any non-vegan ones! They’re addictively scrumptious – morsels so mouthwateringly tasty that you’ll be popping them into your mouth one after the other!

All about polpette di melanzane and how to make them vegan

Eggplants, or aubergines as we call them in the UK, are naturally tasty and don’t need much in terms of flavourings to make them shine. It’s all about how you cook them. In the south of Italy, aubergines grow in abundance in the open from May until late September or from March until November in greenhouses. Housewives all over the South are experts at preparing them, and there are many regional signature dishes of international fame featuring eggplants. Polpette di melanzane are just one of them.

In the past, people cooked with what they could manage to grow. Meat was scarce in most homes, and aubergines were a staple for the poor in southern Italy. The humble aubergine is deeply rooted in Italy’s cucina povera, and even today, you’ll find this versatile little purple vegetable served as a centrepiece on Italian family tables on Sundays and festive occasions.

These aubergine polpette are made with basically the same ingredients as Italian meatballs or eggplant balls: day-old breadcrumbs, tender aubergine pulp instead of meat, finely chopped onion, minced garlic, herbs, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Nutritional yeast flakes provide the umami cheesy flavour, and ground chia seeds act as a binder instead of egg.

Vegan polpette di melanzane are really quick and easy to make. Simply roast, steam or sauté the aubergines until soft and translucent; add all the other ingredients; shape the mixture into balls, then fry them or bake them in the oven.

How this recipe came to be

I often end up making vegan meatballs when I’ve got food left over that I need to use up. The day I came up with this recipe, I had aubergines, bread and some leftover homemade cashew cream cheese. So I put the cheese in as well, wondering how they would turn out – I love experimenting (as long as I can eat the food afterwards!) They were DELICIOUS – I just couldn’t stop eating them! Now, I always look for any excuse to make them again (and again), haha.

What size should polpette be?

Polpette can be anywhere between the size of a large cherry and a golf ball. You can make small vegan polpette di melanzane and serve them as finger food or as a starter. Larger ones are perfect as a main course. I usually make mine about the size of a golf ball (approx. 50 g). As an appetiser or first course, I make them smaller (approx. 15 g as an appetiser/finger food and 25 g as a starter or first course).

Can you make these polpette di melanzane ahead?

Yes, you can. Make the mixture the day before and keep it in the fridge. If you have room, you can even roll them into balls the day before, but you’ll need to keep them well covered so that they don’t dry out. At a pinch, you could even cook them the day before and then just heat them up when you need them. Only put them in any kind of sauce shortly before you eat them. The longer they stand in sauce, the more moisture they absorb and the softer they become. I experimented with that, and they are still delicious, but it’s not the best way to serve them to your guests.

Is it better to fry eggplant “meat”balls or bake them in the oven?

Whether you fry your polpette or bake them is entirely up to you. I bake mine because whenever there’s no difference in taste or texture, I always choose the healthier option. Baked ones are called polpette di melanzane al forno in Italian. Polpette di melanzane fritte are fried eggplant “meat”balls. If you want extra crispy ones for a party or when entertaining, roll them in breadcrumbs and fry them. Otherwise, bake them – they’re just as delicious (coming from someone who knows when it’s necessary to fry something for it to be good).

How to make vegan polpette di melanzane

Ingredients

You’ll find the exact quantities of each ingredient in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Eggplant/aubergine

Any type of eggplant or aubergine is fine for this recipe – even leftover roasted or sautéed aubergine from another meal (as long as it’s not seasoned with other things).

Oil

I use extra virgin olive oil for roasting and sautéing. If you steam the aubergines, you won’t need oil.

Salt

For sautéing, I recommend coarse, unrefined sea salt. This improves the flavour profile and “salts” the aubergines to remove the excess water while they are cooking. The result is a silky texture and rich flavour. If roasting the eggplant, you can use either coarse or fine sea salt. When steaming, either salt the water underneath the steamer or add salt to taste when the aubergine is cooked.

Breadcrumbs

You’ll need bread that’s one or two days old for this recipe. It should spring back when you squeeze it and still be soft enough to pluck off the crumbs from the inside. I usually use the crust, too (minus any burnt bits). But I make sure the crumbs obtained from the crust are very small because they are hard and won’t soften as easily. You don’t want hard bits in your polpette. You can use a blender or food processor to reduce the crust to fine crumbs.

Brown or white bread are both fine, even sliced bread, but I advise against store-bought breadcrumbs as the end texture will be very different. The breadcrumbs should still have a certain amount of moisture in them. I use any leftover bread I happen to have in the house. If it’s too dry, I just add a little water.

Onion

Finely chopped yellow onion is perfect for this recipe.

Garlic

Minced garlic – optional, but recommended.

Chia seeds

Chia seeds act as a binder in this recipe, holding everything together in the same way that egg does. The seeds need to be finely ground. You can do that with a spice grinder or blender. There are two kinds of chia seeds – black and white. It doesn’t matter which you use. Nutritionally and culinarily, there is no difference between the two. You could substitute chia seeds with the same amount of flax seeds if you prefer.

Can I use a different binder instead of flaxseed or chia eggs?

You could try using psyllium husks; they work in a similar way, although I haven’t tried using them in this recipe.

Nutritional yeast flakes

You’ll need nutritional yeast flakes for this recipe. Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast, which means the yeast cells are inactive. It has a nutty, cheesy, and savoury flavour. Vegans use it as a cheese substitute. You can either sprinkle it on dishes as it is or add it as an ingredient. In this vegan polpette di melanzane recipe, nutritional yeast serves as a cheesy flavour enhancer, and it also helps to hold the polpette together. Nutritional yeast comes in the form of powder or flakes. I’ve never actually seen nutritional yeast powder where I live in Switzerland, but if that’s all you’ve got, you’ll only need half the amount stated in the recipe card below.

Vegan cream cheese

Optional but absolutely recommended, cream cheese gives these vegan polpette di melanzane that special finishing touch – it does something really nice to the texture. Fermented cashew cream cheese is ideal in this recipe, but something like vegan Philadelphia or vegan ricotta also works just fine. Don’t use anything with a very high fat content that will just become oil when it melts!

Parsley

Finely chopped parsley is my preferred herb in this recipe because it tends to enhance the flavour rather than being overwhelming. In the summer months, you could substitute parsley with basil. Both these herbs go well with cheesy flavours as well as tomato sauce. I prefer to put basil in the tomato sauce.

Salt and pepper

I use unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season these Italian eggplant polpette.

Flour or breadcrumbs

You’ll need either flour or breadcrumbs for rolling the balls before cooking. Flour is fine if you’re baking them or shallow frying. I use a 50/50 mix of all-purpose flour and rice flour for extra crispiness. Breadcrumbs are a better option for deep frying.

Vegetable oil

Use a vegetable oil like sunflower oil for deep frying. Olive oil is fine for shallow frying. When baking, I brush a little olive oil on each polpetta before they go into the oven.

Instructions – how to cook the aubergines

First of all, cook the aubergines. You can do this in several ways. Sauté, roast or steam.

Sauté

This is my preferred way of cooking aubergines for this particular recipe. It enhances the flavour and makes the pieces melt-in-your-mouth smooth and moist, perfect for making “meat”balls.

Cut them into small cubes and sauté them on medium-high heat in a pan with a little extra virgin oil and a pinch of coarse sea salt. Putting a lid on helps them cook faster and reduces the risk of burning them. Stir them often. Turn the heat right down once they are nicely browned, and continue to cook them until they are soft and translucent.

Roast

Method 1

Cut the aubergines into small cubes, toss them in a little oil, season with salt and pepper and roast them in the oven until they are nicely browned, soft and translucent. This method dries them out a bit more than sautéing, but it’s also an acceptable way of doing it with less hands-on time.

Method 2

Prick whole, untrimmed aubergines with a fork and place them in a hot oven until collapsed and well charred. This method is the easiest but not the quickest. It takes quite a while to cook them this way. Once the aubergines are done, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh. It will be very wet, so you’ll need to drain the pulp in a sieve for at least 15 minutes. You may also need more breadcrumbs than stated to absorb the extra moisture.

Method 3

Cut the aubergines in half lengthwise and then score them with a sharp knife in a crisscross pattern without cutting right through to the skin. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Roast them in a hot oven until soft. When done, scoop out the pulp.

Steam

Last but not least, steaming is the healthiest way of cooking them for those who want to avoid using oil and preserve all the nutrients. It’s not my preferred method for this recipe, but I do steam aubergines sometimes for other recipes. Cut the aubergines into cubes and steam them until tender.

Instructions – how to make the polpette (eggplant balls)

You’ll find step-by-step instructions with photos in the recipe card below.

• While the eggplant/aubergines are cooking, break the bread into small pieces.
• Chop the onion finely and mince the garlic.
• Grind the chia seeds.
• Add the breadcrumbs, onion and garlic, cream cheese and parsley to the pan with the aubergines and mix.

• Sprinkle the nutritional yeast and ground chia seeds all over the mixture and stir it in. Don’t just dump the ground chia all in one place – it will clump as soon as it comes into contact with moisture. You need to distribute it evenly before it starts to do its magic.
• Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Amalgamate well to obtain a sticky but workable mixture.

• Shape the mixture into balls.
• Roll them in flour or breadcrumbs.
• If baking, brush them with a little olive oil (optional step). Bake them on a tray in the middle of the oven at 220 °C for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
• To shallow fry, heat some oil in a large frying pan. Fry them on medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown and cooked through.
• To deep fry, heat the sunflower oil to 170-180°C (338-356°F). If you don’t have a thermometer, put the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil to test how hot it is. When bubbles form around the wood and float up, your oil is ready for frying.

How to serve vegan polpette di melanzane

These little eggplant meatballs are so versatile! Serve them hot, warm, or even cold. Larger ones are great as a main course, with or without a sauce. Simmering them in homemade tomato sauce is the best possible thing you can do to these vegan polpette di melanzane, in my humble opinion. The flavours meld together wonderfully, and the balls absorb some of the sauce and become so tender they practically melt in your mouth. They are, without doubt, one of my favourite foods! For the photo below, I used my recipe for homemade tomato sauce.

Make them smaller and serve them straight out of the pan or oven as a warm starter or finger food. Serve them on a bed of leafy mixed salad, accompanied by vegan mayonnaise/yoghurt-based sauces like vegan aioli or sour cream mayo.

What is the traditional way to serve Polpette di Melanzane in Italy?

More often than not, Italians would serve polpette di melanzane with tomato sauce as a main course, after a first course of pasta, perhaps, with some crusty bread to mop up the juices. Another popular way of serving them is straight out of the pan or oven with an accompaniment of sautéed potatoes with rosemary, for example. Or with a green-leaf vegetable side dish like spinach, Swiss chard or erbette. Some people serve them with a side salad.

Mini polpette di melanzane are also really popular in Italy. Crispy little bocconcini (morsels) that you can pop into your mouth whole are often served as an appetiser or finger food. Coat them in breadcrumbs, fry them and serve them straight out of the pan just as they are. They are also often served as a starter with a vegetable garnish or a sauce.

How to store leftover vegan polpette di melanzane

Obviously, polpette di melanzane are best eaten hot, and I seriously doubt you’ll have any left to store! But then again, not everyone is as greedy as me, haha! You can store leftover polpette in an airtight container in the fridge, where they will keep for 3 – 4 days.

How to reheat them

First, if you’ve got time, bring them back to room temperature. Then, put them in a preheated oven (220 °C) for 5 minutes or until they turn crispy again.

Can you freeze eggplant “meat”balls?

Yes, you can. First, allow them to cool down completely. Then, put them in an airtight container in the freezer, where they’ll keep for at least a couple of months. To reheat from frozen, first allow them to defrost completely, and then proceed as above.

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